Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. In the UK alone, more than 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year – that's 143 men every day.
That’s why, today, we are telling Matt and Paul’s story.
Matt Wright (pictured above, left) and Paul Witton-Dauris (right) are both 49 years old. They live minutes apart from each other in Winchester, and know each other through a mutual love of playing and watching football. But unfortunately, that’s not where the similarity ends. Within weeks of each other in summer 2022, both men discovered they had prostate cancer.
Paul, a lifelong Saints fan, had been having regular check-ups after his father passed away aged just 62, having been diagnosed four years earlier. However, during the pandemic, it was inevitably much harder to keep up that routine. It was almost three years before he next saw a doctor. Thank goodness he did, as it was then that he was diagnosed via a PSA screening, which tests for the signs of prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, Paul’s good friend Matt, who has lived in Winchester for 33 years, had been feeling pain in one of his testicles for about six months and decided to get it checked out. In response, his consultant also decided to run a PSA blood test to try to get to the bottom of things. Whilst the test proved that the pain was totally unrelated, unfortunately it also showed he had cancer.
Neither Paul or Matt had any of the typical signs of prostate cancer and it is very rare in men as young as them, so it was down to their own diligence that they both were diagnosed. What quickly became clear is that discovering it when they did will have almost certainly saved their lives – in both cases, the cancer had reached stage 3, meaning that it had started to spread outside of the prostate.
Matt and Paul are encouraging male Saints fans aged 45 and over to get tested, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
Matt said: “A simple blood test can give you early warning signs that all is not well. When you look around St Mary’s, it is full of men just like us, who love playing and watching football, and want to continue doing this for many years to come. So please, take it from us: go to your GP and get tested.”
Prostate Cancer when caught early has a high chance of a positive outcome and there are a wide range of treatments available on the NHS. Left too late and it can be fatal.
For more information on prostate cancer and its symptoms please visit prostatecanceruk.org.
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